Intra-hospital lethality among infants with pyogenic meningitis.

Predictor variables of intra-hospital lethality among infants with pyogenic meningitis due to Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae were identified using data from a follow-up study of infants with bacterial meningitis. The infants who were admitted to Couto Maia Hospital from March 1, 1997 to December 31, 1997 presenting with symptoms of bacterial meningitis were identified and included in a database. An analysis of the clinical and laboratory information was performed using EPI info 6.

Stimulation of cortisol release by the N terminus of teleost parathyroid hormone-related protein in interrenal cells in vitro.

The mode of action of PTHrP in the regulation of sea bream (Sparus auratus) interrenal cortisol production was studied in vitro using a dynamic superfusion system. Piscine (1-34)PTHrP (10(-6)-10(-11) M) stimulated cortisol production in a dose-dependent manner. The ED50 of (1-34)PTHrP was 2.

[Audiologic late prognosis due to meningitis in children].

Introduction: Auditory deficit has been considered one of the main late manifestations of meningitis, when it occurs during the two first years of life. Few studies have been conducted in Brazil explaining the evolution of children who had meningitis and the percentage, as well the neurological gravity, the auditory problems and sequels after the children left the hospital.

Objective: To characterize the main auditory and neurological correlation, delineating the profile of the auditory deficits found five years after the central nervous system infection.

[Dietary pattern and nutritional status of metalworkers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil].

Nutritional status, dietary and leisure-time physical activity patterns, and energy intake of 65 male metalworkers aged 19 to 58 years from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are described in the context of a surveillance build-up system. Mean body mass index was 25.0 kg/m2 (44.

[Dietary and physical activity factors as determinants of the increase in overweight/obesity in Brazil].

Data from Brazilian national surveys conducted since the 1970s have indicated an increase in the prevalence of overweight/obesity. The two most frequently cited causes of this trend have been dietary changes and reduction in physical activity, characterizing a "contemporary Western lifestyle". The objective of this paper is to identify and assess some indicators associated with changes in eating habits and physical activity patterns in the Brazilian population in the last 30 years.

Species richness and relative abundance of birds in natural and anthropogenic fragments of Brazilian Atlantic forest.

Bird communities were studied in two types of fragmented habitat of Atlantic forest in the State of Paraná, southern Brazil; one consisted of forest fragments that were created as a result of human activities (forest remnants), the other consisted of a set of naturally occurring forest fragments (forest patches). Using quantitative data obtained by the point counts method in 3 forest patches and 3 forest remnants during one year, species richness and relative abundance were compared in those habitats, considering species groups according to their general feeding habits. Insectivores, omnivores, and frugivores presented similar general tendencies in both habitats (decrease of species number with decreasing size and increasing isolation of forest fragment).

[Growth and nutritional status in a probabilistic sample of schoolchildren from Rio de Janeiro, 1999].

Growth and nutritional status were assessed in a probabilistic sample of public schoolchildren (1,705 girls and 1,682 boys) in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1999. Nutritional status of the under-10-year group was assessed by z < -2 (undernutrition) for body mass for height and height for age and by z > +2 for body mass for height (overweight). For children over 10, the 5th and 85th percentiles of body mass index for age were used to assess underweight and overweight, respectively.

A simplified method for assessing physical activity level values for a country or study population.

Objective: To describe a method to estimate physical activity level (PAL) values based on household surveys in which representative information of the population on the distribution of sex, age, occupation and daily working hours is obtained, and to compare them to the recommended PAL (RPAL) values.

Design And Subjects: Data of 267446 individuals of a probabilistic sample from a Brazilian food consumption and family budget survey were used to estimate two different sets of estimated PAL (EPAL) values: (1) considering sex, age group and geographical area and (2) the above plus expenditure class, defined by the quartiles of per capita expenditure.

Results: The EPAL values derived by the proposed method indicated that: (l) the RPAL values for 18+y-old women represent higher energy requirements (ERs) than necessary, which could make these women become obese; (2) the RPAL values for 18 to 59-y-old males can only be used to calculate the mean for the total population, because their use for the rural and urban populations separately will lead to severe physiological effects-under- and overnutrition, respectively; and (3) the RPAL values for 10 to 17 and 60+y-old males and 11 to 17-y-old females will lead to undernutrition by not incorporating provisions for the occupational activities.

Transthyretin in fish: state of the art.

Relatively little is known about thyroid hormone-binding proteins in fish and, until recently, the thyroid hormones (THs), thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), had only been found in fish plasma bound to albumin and lipoproteins. Recently, transthyretin (TTR) was cloned in a teleost fish, the sea bream (sb); it is composed of 130 amino acids and shares 47-54% sequence similarity with other vertebrate TTR and binds preferentially T3. Homology modelling of sbTTR based upon the crystallographic structure of TTR in human, rat and chicken reveals similar monomer-monomer and dimer-dimer interfaces and a conserved tetrameric structure.

[Quality of body mass measurement in Rio de Janeiro public health centers in 1996].

The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the quality of body mass measurement of children under 5 years of age treated in 21 health care units in the city of Rio de Janeiro. A total of 38 health care professionals were observed, 292 children were weighed, and 41 scales were calibrated. Almost all of the mechanical scales were positioned improperly.

[Access to food stamps and nutritional status of adults from Northeast and Southeast Brazil, 1997].

Access by adults (>/=20 years of age) to the Workers' Food Program was investigated in a probabilistic sample of the Brazilian population living in the Northeast and Southeast regions. Only 19.9% (Northeast = 11.

A comparison of distribution curves of body mass index from Brazil and the United States for assessing overweight and obesity in Brazilian adolescents.

Objective: To assess the validity of recommendations for use of the 85th and 95th percentiles of body mass index (BMI) of the population in the United States of America as a screening tool to assess overweight/obesity in adolescents.

Methods: We investigated the relation between BMI and percent body fat in 1,540 adolescents (717 males and 823 females) aged 10 to 17.9 years old from a private high school in Niterói, a city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

[Historical and methodological aspects of the measurement and prediction of basal metabolic rate: a review].

This paper reviews the most relevant aspects of measuring basal metabolic rate (BMR). The authors discuss individual and lifestyle factors (age, anthropometry, smoking, physical activity, diet, menses, and ethnicity) as well as possible environmental factors at time of measurement which may alter BMR values. Various available predictive equations, especially those recommended by the World Health Organization in 1985, and subsequent validation studies, particularly in populations living in the tropics, are presented.

[Public and occupational health aspects related to municipal solid waste management].

Based on a literature review, the paper calls attention to public and occupational health problems related to poor municipal solid waste management resulting from a development model that views environmental protection, public health, and workers' health as secondary issues. The authors emphasize the need for research to support a new waste management model highlighting the importance of environmental preservation and protection of human health, in addition to suggesting measures to achieve such goals. The discussion aims to incorporate solid waste management into the public health agenda.

[Energy adequacy ratio (intake/requirements) as an indicator of families nutritional assessment: a critical analysis of methods applied to food consumption surveys].

The authors discuss problems associated with the use of the energy adequacy ratio as an indicator of nutritional status in population-based studies derived from household food consumption surveys. They describe the use of food consumption data to estimate family energy intake and to compare it among families and with family requirements to determine the family energy adequacy ratio. The article also discusses the use of international recommendations for human energy requirements and their limitations, based on the lack of consideration of non-food conditions, adaptive mechanisms, inadequacy of estimates of the baseline metabolism rate, and the lack of information to evaluate energy expenditure in non-work physical activities in the household surveys consulted.

[Validation of predictive equations of basal metabolic rate of women living in Southern Brazil].

Objective: To measure the basal metabolic rate of women (aged 20 to 40 years) living in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and to compare it with estimated values bored on published predictive equations.

Methods: Basal metabolic rate was measured by indirect calorimetry under standard conditions in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle of 60 volunteers.

Results: Mean measured basal metabolic rate (+/- standard deviation) was 1,185.

[The evaluation of the physiological workload in the Brazilian legislation should be revised! The case of garbage collectors in Rio de Janeiro].

The physiological workload (PW) involved in garbage collection was assessed in a probabilistic sample of 70 Rio de Janeiro city garbage collectors to determine the adequacy of Brazilian labor legislation regarding classification of work. PW was measured as energy expenditure (EE) and heart rate (HR) during total work time (TT) and actual time (AT) in garbage collection on 4 consecutive days. Median EE values were 288.

[The labor process and work-related accidents among garbage collectors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil].

This study describes the work performed by garbage collectors in the Rio de Janeiro City Street Cleaning Company (COMLURB) (Rio Comprido division) and its consequences for their health. Data were collected through interviews and on-site video documentation. A detailed description of the work process was performed.

[Nutritional status of vitamin A in mother/newborn pairs from 2 hospital nurseries in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil].

The aim of the present study was to assess maternal and newborn (umbilical blood) vitamin status in 220 mothers/newborns at birth from two public health centers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The proportion of low retinol levels (cut-off point 1.05 mumol/L) in the umbilical cord of newborns (55.

[Basal metabolic rate is overestimated by predictive equation in college-age women of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil].

Since the World Health Organization suggested predictive equations for basal metabolic rate (BMR) in 1985 there has been great interest in their validity in different populations worldwide. It has been shown that these equations overestimate BMR in some populations, particularly the ones living in the tropics. There is limited new information on BMR in segments of the Brazilian population.

[Anthropometric profile of the elderly Brazilian population: results of the National Health and Nutrition Survey, 1989].

This paper presents the nutritional status of the elderly Brazilian population (60 years and older) based on a probabilistic sample survey in 1989. Nutritional assessment used the BMI (kg/m2), with cut-off points recommended by the WHO (1995). Socio-demographic variables included age, gender, region and place of residence in the country (urban/rural area), income, education, and housing conditions.

[Stunting in Brazilian children: relationship with social-environmental conditions and maternal nutritional status].

The relationship between stunting in Brazilian children with their mother's nutritional status and their social-environmental situation was assessed in a probabilistic sample of the Brazilian population in 1989. Data from 12644 mother-son pairs were analyzed. Maternal nutritional status was classified based on the body mass index and stunting was identified in children with stature or length for age Z < or = -2 of the American growth reference curve (NCHS).

[Hypovitaminosis A in neonates in 2 public maternity hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil].

Vitamin A status (umbilical cord retinol levels) of 253 newborns in two public hospitals of Rio de Janeiro showed a high prevalence (55. 7%) of deficiency (retinol levels below 1.05 micromol/L).

[Distribution of body mass indices of a Brazilian population under 25 years of age].

This paper presents the percentage distribution of the body mass index of the Brazilian population from birth to age 25, based on a national survey conducted in 1989. Survey data show that body mass index decreases from birth until around 6 years of age, reaching a plateau at 8 years and progressively increasing until the age of 19 or 20 years for females and 20 or 21 for males. The survey also revealed that after the age of 12 females present a greater body mass index than males, as well as a larger range of percentile values (from 3 to 97).